Modular display fixture



July 7, 1970 cs. L. FREEDMAN MODULAR DISPLAY FIXTURE Filed Jun 6' 1968 4 Sheets s t l INVENTOR MX July 7, 1970 G. L. FREEDMAN 3,519,320

MODULAR DISPLAY FIXTURE Filed June 6, 1968 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTCR.

M72 M4 225% "/2! AJ July 7, 1970 G. L. FREEDMA N MODULAR DISPLAY FIXTURE Filed June e. 1968 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 /INVENTOR. Mar MW BY Arid/612915 United States Patent 3,519,320 MODULAR DISPLAY FIXTURE Gordon L. Freedman, Charlevoix, Mich., assignor to Freedman Artcraft Engineering Corporation, Charlevoix, Mich., a corporation of Michigan Filed June 6, 1968, Ser. No. 735,001 Int. Cl. A47b 43/00 US. Cl. 312-258 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A fixture for displaying greeting cards and similar articles. The fixture comprises a frame, side panels, decorative panels or plates for covering the side panels, and drawers having removable front walls. All exposed decorative panels are interchangeable so that the construction is amendable to modular inventory and construction techniques.

This invention relates to the construction of greeting card display fixtures and particularly to constructions which enable such fixtures to be assembled and inventoried at minimum expense.

Greeting card fixtures are extremely bulky and are therefore expensive to ship from one point to another or from a point of manufacture to a remote customer. As a result, one of the major factors in the ultimate cost of a fixture is the shipping cost of transporting the fixture to the customer.

To minimize shipping costs, there have been proposals to assemble fixtures in the field. However, this approach has been generally unsuccessful because of the high degree of skill required of carpenters to complete the assembly and the consequent high labor costs thereby involved.

Another approach to the high shipping cost problem has been to ship carloads of fixtures at relatively low carload rates to warehouses remote from the place of manufacture and then reship from the warehouses short distances to the customers at higher shipping rates. This approach has the advantage of shipping via a slow but inexpensive mode of transportation for most of the distance and of only using an expensive but relatively fast mode of transportation for short distances. However, this approach requires the maintenance of large inventories at each warehouse in order to have a complete stock available for instantaneous reshipment.

It has been an objective of this invention to provide a new display fixture which is so constructed that it lends itself to inexpensive shipment and the maintenance of minimum inventory levels.

This objective has been achieved and this invention is predicated upon the concept of utilizing standard rigid or collapsible frames and removable front drawers in a line of display fixtures so that only a minimum number of frames and drawers need be inventoried. In this way the large bulky frames may be shipped in bulk in inexpensive slow-moving modes of transportation, as for example railroad cars, and the decorative panels and drawer fronts may be inventoried elsewhere and shipped directly to a customer at more expensive rates but via a faster mode of transportation, as for example air freight. In this way, the overall inventory required at the remote warehouse is minimized as well as the overall transportation cost.

Another advantage of this construction is that it minimizes the overall construction cost of a fixture by utilizing standard drawers having removable and replaceable front panels. Heretofore, standardization of drawers required a standard front drawer wall and a removable decorative panel. This invention thus eliminates the need for a decorative panel by combining the removable replaceable front wall and decorative panel.

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The removable drawer front panel has other advantages over fixed front drawer boxes. Specifically, the removable front enables damaged drawer fronts to be easily replaced in the field, thereby minimizing repair costs. Additionally, this construction enables customers to very simply and inexpensively change the decor of their fixtures. Preferably, the removable drawer front is attached to the drawer box in such a manner that the front may easily be adjusted relative to the box to facilitate alignment of the drawer front during installation.

In lieu of an assembled rigid frame, the back panel, side panels, and deck panel may all be hingedly interconnected so that the fixture may be folded flat for shipment. This construction not only reduces shipment costs but has the advantage of facilitating disassembly and storage of the fixture by a customer.

These and other objects and advantages of this invention may be more readily apparent from the following detailed description of the drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a display fixture incorporating the invention of this application,

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a second display fixture incorporating the invention of this application but illustrating a different decor from that applied to the fixture of FIG. 1,

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the fixture of FIG. 1 but with the drawers of the fixture omitted,

FIG. 4 is an exploded rear perspective view of a single drawer of the fixture of FIG. 1,

FIG. 5 is an enlarged front perspective view of a portion of the drawer of FIG. 4,

FIG. 6 is a cross sectional view through the drawer of FIG. 4 illustrating the manner of assembly of the drawer,

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a second embodiment of a frame for the fixture in which the frame is foldable into a flat package,

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the frame of FIG. 7 in a partially assembled condition,

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of the frame of FIG. 7 in a completely assembled condition,

FIG. 10 is a cross sectional view through a corner of the frame taken on line 1010 of FIG. 8,

FIG. 11 is a cross sectional view taken on line 1111 of FIG. 9, but partially exploded to illustrate the mode of assembly of the nosing rail onto the frame, and

FIG. 12 is a perspective view of a portion of the fixture frame and the drawers, illustrating the manner of mounting of the drawers in the frame.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, two different styles of the same basic fixture 10 are illustrated for purposes of showing how easily different decors may be interchanged upon the fixture frame. Specifically, conversion from one decor to another requires only replacement of decorative side plates or panels, a nosing rail, and drawer fronts as is explained more fully hereinafter.

Referring to FIG. 3, it will be seen that each of the fixtures of FIGS. 1 and 2 comprises a rigid frame 11 within which is mounted a vertically and rearwardly stepped display rack 12. The rack 12 is conventional and therefore has not been illustrated in detail. A suitable rack is completely illustrated and described in my earlier Pat. No. 3,179,479, issued Apr. 20, 1965, although it is contemplated that other types and styles of display racks may be substituted for that illustrated herein.

To this rigid frame 11 are bolted or otherwise secured decorative side plates 14, 15 and the decorative nosing rail 16. Drawers having a front wall of the same decorative motif as the side panels and the nosing rail are slidable within the frame upon runners 29, 30', 32, 33.

The frame 11 comprises two side panels 20, 21 held in spaced relationship by cross bars 23, 24, 25. Vertical frame bars 27, 28 of the frame support a pair of the runner boards 29, 30 therebetween. The other runners 32, 33 are fixedly secured to the side panels 20, 21 of the frame.

In practice, the frame 11 is completely assembled in the factory or place of manufacture of the fixture. The side plates 14, 15 and the nosing rail 16 are generally shipped separately from the plant and are only added when the fixture is completely assembled in the field at the customers place of business. When the unit is shipped, drawers 17 (FIG. 4) are usually mounted in the frame 11 but without the front decorative walls secured thereto. Thus the frame and drawers, without the decorative panels, are shipped as a unit and the decorative panels are all boxed independently. The decorative panels are all interchangeable so that frames and drawers may be made up and boxed in a warehouse prior to receiving orders for fixtures. Only when the order is received need the decorative panels be manufactured or sent to the warehouse. By standardizing on the frame and drawers, the inventory levels required for these items may be substantially reduced.

Referring to FIGS. 4-6, there is illustrated a preferred form of the removable front drawer 17. This drawer comprises a bottom panel 40, a pair of side walls 41, 42 and a rear wall 43, all of which are assembled and glued together in the factory as a sub-assembly box. To this box is attached a pair of generally L-shaped brackets 44-44, one wall 46 of which is secured to the leading edge at one of the side walls 41, 42. The front walls 48 of each of these brackets is provided with a pair of vertically spaced keyhole slots 49 adapted to receive wood screws 50 extending from the rear of the front walls 18 of the drawers. By inserting the heads 51 of these wood screws 50 through the large diameter section of the keyhole slots 49 and then moving the drawer front wall downwardly as illustrated in FIG. 6, the drawer front wall 18 may be located on the front of a drawer box. After being properly aligned on the front of the box, the screws 50 may be tightened so as to permanently lock the front wall 18 to the brackets and the attached drawer 17.

If the front wall becomes damaged or requires replacement because of a change of motiff or decor of the fixture, the front wall 18 may be removed by loosening the screws 50 and lifting the drawer front upwardly and outwardly. A new front may then be attached to the bracket and, after having been properly aligned, can be secured to the drawer front by simply tightening the screws 50 which extend into the back of the front wall 18.

Referring now to FIGS. 7-l2, there is illustrated a second foldable style of frame which is particularly useful in applications where the display is only used seasonally for the display of seasonal cards. Additionally, this foldable frame is much less expensive to ship than the rigid frame illustrated in FIG. 3 and is therefore useful in applications where the frame is to be shipped a long distance to a customer.

The frame of the foldable fixture 60 comprises a large rectangular rear panel 61, a pair of side panels 62, 63, a foldable deck panel 64 and a foldable partition panel 65. The side panels 62, 63 are connected along their rear edges by hinges 66 to the side edges of the rear panel 61. Similarly the deck panel 64 and the partition panel 65 are hingedly connected along their rear edges to the rear panel. Consequently, all of these panels may be folded into a fiat condition as illustrated in FIG. 7 or may be unfolded during erection as illustrated in FIGS. 8 and 9. After unfolding of all these panels, the fixture is maintained in an assembled erected condition by attachment of a nose rail 67 and a base rail 68. Both of these rails extend between the side panels 62, 63. For ease of replacement, the nose rail 67 is preferably secured to the front edge of the deck panel 64 by a pair of metal brackets 70, 71 attached to the underside of 4 the front edge of the deck panel 64. These brackets 70, 71 have an upwardly extending lip 72, 73 which extends into a vertical slot 74 of the nose rail 67. Thus, the nose rail may be snapped onto and off of the vertical lips 72, 73 of the brackets 70, 71 for purposes of replacement, repair or assembly.

As may be seen most clearly in FIG. 8, the partition panel 65 has an upwardly extending lip 77 adapted to be received in a slot 78 on the underside of the deck panel 64. The slot 78 is defined by a pair of wooden spacer bars 79, 80 fixedly mounted on the underside of the deck panel 64. When the lip 77 of the partition panel 65 is received in the slot 78, the bars 79, 80 hold the panel 65 against pivoting movement about the hinges which secure the panel 65 to the rear panel 61.

When the deck panel 64 is folded downwardly during erection, slots 81 along the transverse edges of the deck panel 64 are received over upwardly extending lips 82 of deck supporting bars 83. These bars are fixedly secured to the inside of the side panels 62, 63 and, as may be seen most clearly in FIG. 8, are generally L-shaped in cross section. The slots 81 along the bottom transverse edges of the deck panel 64 are defined by a pair of spacer bars 84, 85 which extend between front and rear frame bars 86, 87 of the deck panel 64. Consequently, when the deck panel is folded downwardly the slots 81 are received over the lips 82 of the bars 83. The deck panel and the cooperating bars 83 then serve to hold the side panels in a plane normal to the plane of the rear panel 61 and prevent pivoting movement of the side panels about the hinges 66.

A pair of vertically spaced drawer runners 90, 91 are also fixedly mounted upon the inside wall of the side panels. These runners 90, 91 cooperate with four runners 92, 93, 94, 95 secured to opposite sides of the partition panel 65 to support four drawers (FIG. 10) for sliding movement into and out of the base of the fixture. The drawers 17 are identical to the drawers which have heretofore been described in connection with the description of the fixture illustrated in FIGS. l-6.

The fixture illustrated in FIGS. 9 and 12 is completed by the mounting of drawer fronts 18 on the front of the drawers, placement of a vertically and rearwardly stepped rack on the top of the deck panel 64 and, if desired, mounting of decorative side plates 14, 15 over the outside walls of the side panels 62, 63. This fixture then has the attributes of interchangeable decors by replacement of the side panels, the nose panel and the drawer fronts and, as in the case of the embodiments previously described, utilizes a standard frame for a complete line of varying decorative styles of fixtures. In this instance though, the frame is foldable to minimize transportation costs and to facilitate storage.

While several different embodiments of my invention have been described herein, those persons skilled in the arts to which this invention pertains will readily appreciate numerous changes and modifications which may be made without departing from the spirit of my invention. Therefore, I do not intend to be limited except by the scope of the appended claims.

Having described my invention I claim:

1. A display fixture for displaying greeting cards and similar articles comprising:

a frame including side panels,

a display rack mounted upon said frame,

drawer runners mounted upon said frame,

slidable drawers mounted upon said runners, each of said drawers comprising a bottom panel, a pair of side walls and a rear wall rigidly and fixedly secured together into a permanent box sub-assembly,

a front wall removably and replaceably secured to said box sub-assembly by securement means including brackets having longitudinal slots therein to enable said front walls to be aligned on said boxes,

said brackets having side sections and front sections at right angles to said side sections, one of said sections of each of said brackets being fixedly secured to one of said walls of said drawer and the other section having said slots therein.

2. The fixture of claim 1 wherein said longitudinal slots are located in said front sections of said brackets.

3. The fixture of claim 1 wherein the height of said drawer side and rear walls is approximately one half the of said brackets is substantially greater than the height of the drawer front Wall, and wherein the height of said brackets is substantially greater than the height of said side walls, each of said drawers further including an elevating extension attached to the front edge of each of said side walls, said extensions being secured to the top portion of said brackets so that said top portion of said brackets is supported by said extensions.

4. The fixture of claim l'wherein said frame comprises a rear panel, said side panels being hingedly connected to said rear panel so that said frame may be collapsed for shipment.

5. The fixture of claim 4 wherein said frame further includes a deck panel hingedly connected to said rear panel and foldable into a horizontal plane when said fixture is assembled.

6. The fixture of claim 5 wherein said fixture further includes a vertical partition panel hingedly connected to said rear panel.

7. The fixture of claim 6 wherein said deck panel includes interlocking means cooperable with interlocking means on said side panels and said vertical partition panel to hold said side panels and partition panel in an assembled relationship when said fixture is in an unfolded, assembled condition.

8. A display fixture for displaying greeting cards and similar articles comprising:

a frame including side panels,

a display rack mounted upon said frame,

drawer runners mounted upon said frame,

slidable drawers mounted upon said runners, each of said drawers comprising a bottom panel, a pair of side walls and a rear wall rigidly and fixedly secured together into a permanent box sub-assembly, and

a front wall removably and replaceably secured to said box sub-assembly, said front wall being replaceably mounted upon said box sub-assembly by means of metal brackets secured to said side walls of said sub-assembly, each of said brackets having a side section and a front section, said side sections being fixedly secured to said side walls of said box subassembly and said front sections having keyhole slots therein, and wood screws extending through said keyhole slots into said front wall so as to removably secure said front Wall to said brackets and to said side walls of said box sub-assembly.

9. The fixture of claim 8 wherein said frame further includes a rear panel, a deck panel, and a vertical partition panel, said side panels, said deck panel, and said partition panel being hingedly connected to said rear panel so that said deck panel, partition panel, and said side panels are adapted to be folded into a common plane with said back panel.

1 10. The fixture of claim 9 wherein said vertical partition panel has locking means along the top edge thereof cooperable with mating means in the bottom of said deck panel to lock said partition panel in a plane normal to the plane of said rear panel.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 238,452 3/1881 Sorenson 312-350 X 2,153,422 4/1939 Kroman 211- 2,236,557 4/1941 Zalkind 312261 X 2,333,717 11/1943 Heed et al 21155 X 3,302,797 2/ 1967 Kolster 211-55 3,377,115 4/1968 Hansen et al. 312204 X 3,394,973 7/1968 Scott 211--55 3,408,127 10/1968 Vincens 312204 X FOREIGN PATENTS 185,535 7/ 1954 Austria.

JAMES T. McCALL, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 211-55 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No. 3 I519 u 320 Dat July 7 1970 Inventor(s) Gordon L. Freedman It is certified that error appears in the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

Column 5, line 8, delete the of said brackets is substantially greater than".

dila'iip AND SEALED ocfe Attest:

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